An Australian professional air conditioner cleaner and honorary town crier from Canberra, Joseph McGrail-Bateup, has achieved recognition as the world’s loudest person. Guinness World Records recently announced that the 58-year-old set a new record for the loudest individual shout. His shout of ‘now’ reached 122.4 decibels. This surpassed the earlier record of 121.7 decibels, made by Annalisa Flanagan from Northern Ireland in 1994, who had shouted ‘quiet.’
The sound levels of his shout compare to those of a chain saw, jet aircraft taking off, or an ambulance siren heard at close range. McGrail-Bateup’s remarkable feat was recorded in a Canberra radio studio. A professional acoustic engineer measured the volume and witnesses were present during the attempt, which occurred on May 2.
In a conversation, McGrail-Bateup explained that training for such an attempt is not feasible. ‘You can’t actually practice for it. You have to keep your voice ready for the day.’ His record-breaking yell took seven tries, after which his voice was hoarse for days. Despite this, he found the experience enjoyable.
McGrail-Bateup considers himself not the loudest person overall but the loudest man. He expressed satisfaction that Annalisa Flanagan maintains her record as the loudest woman. His interest in breaking noise-related records began when he discovered Flanagan’s record while exploring achievements related to his role as a town crier. He became Canberra’s official town crier in 2017, a part-time honorary role. As Lord Joseph, he announces at various community events, including school fetes and car shows.
He belongs to the Ancient and Honorable Guild of Australian Town Criers, an organization promoting and preserving the town crier tradition. In 2024, he won a guild contest with a commanding ‘Oyez, Oyez, Oyez,’ hitting 98 decibels. For his world record, he tried different words before deciding on ‘now.’
This marks McGrail-Bateup’s second world record. In 2019, he set a record for speed in archery, shooting 10 arrows in 60.03 seconds, beating the previous record from 2015. However, a young archer soon broke this record by 11.4 seconds. McGrail-Bateup expressed no interest in reclaiming either record, welcoming any future challengers. ‘Records are meant to be broken,’ he stated.
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